Ebony Evans: Adventure of a Lifetime Chap. 26
Ebony 'I't felt like it had been hours since I went searching, but I knew it had only been a few minutes. I was starting to get hot in my jacket, but I didn't dare take it off and leave it for me to get later. I had a feeling that I wouldn't be able to come back and get it. I kept messing with my bracelet, getting more nervous the more steps I took. It was still afternoon, so I knew it hadn't been that long since I left the ship. Why did I want to come down on the ground? Right now, I probably was being a loon. A few minutes later, I took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. Better. Soon enough, I entered a empty spot in the woods. I waited for something, I don't know, magical, but there was nothing. I did feel something. A sense of freedom, a freedom of the quest. Right now, I had time by myself, to think outside of the quest. My first thought was my mom. My mom! ''What did she think happened to me? That I died, left (I had threatened a lot in the past months), or maybe that I was kidnapped. ''No. She wouldn't think of any of that. ''Knowing my mom as I did, she probably thought I was roaming around the woods, like I always did when I needed to be alone. That was probably what I felt on the deck, I needed to be alone. I untied my jacket, sat down, and laid it down beside me. I started to remembered all those days in the woods, lonely and sad. When had I last been in the woods alone? It must have been a week before I met Nico. My mom refused to talk to me about my dad, for about the hundredth time. She use to tell me about him all the time when I was little, but after reaching the age of ten, she stopped. One night, when I was ten, I was tired and I asked her to tell me something about him. She sat on the end of my bed and said, "Please, Ebony, don't ask me too, ever again." "Why, mom?" "He was a... terrible man and I'd rather not remember him." I sat up, "But, mom, you told me dad was a great guy, and he-" She put up her hand, "I know what I said, Ebony. Don't, okay?" Her rough tone freaked me out. She never talked to me like that, espeically not about my dad. The prince of her life, who was taken from her. I decided not to ask again, that night anyway. ''My dad. What was he real story? If he was a Greek god, then what happened to my mom and me in his life? Did my mom ever know? I tried to remember my dad, anything. All I got was a small smile, and kind dark purple eyes. Had I ever met him? ''I must have, I wouldn't have ever thought of those things if I hadn't. ''Why had I never tried thinking of him before? I started getting a headache, loud and pounding. I slowly stood up, wiped off any dirt on my pants, and put back on my jacket. I was about ready to go find the ship, maybe find some medicine to stop my headache, when something came flying out of the woods to my left. It was huge and black. I cocked my head, "Mrs. O'Leary?" The black as darkness hellhound turned to me and charge at me. I barely had anytime to brace myself for the impact. The hellhound licked my face, more or less of it, and then a high pitched whistle made her stop. She looked behind herself and then walked back over to where she had jumped out of the woods. Out of the woods, almost taller than the hellhound, was a huge teenage looking boy. He petted, hugged, and talked to Mrs. O'Leary, just like Nico did. They must be friends, which made me less nervous about the boy. "Where you been?" the boy said. His grammar and pronunciation of his words made me think he was about eleven years old. Mrs. O'Leary just barked at his question. "Oh. Where she?" Mrs. O'Leary then nodded her head at me. The boy then looked at me, and I realized he wasn't a boy. He only had one eye, a big brown one, and it was right in the middle of his face. I had seen these things before, in one of my nightmares. He, this "boy," was a Cyclops. I remembered what my mom use to tell me about Cyclops when I was a kid, during one of the special nights she would read some myths to me: ''"Cyclops are very dangerous, my dear. Never trust a Cyclops. They're always were out to get humans, and still are." ''I use to laugh inside when she said still are, but now I knew she wasn't just trying to make the story interesting. "Hi!" the boy said to me in a friendly tone. "H-hi..." He started to walk over to me, and the bigger he became. Over six feet, and possibly seven. My knees started to shake a bit, but that may have just been from his foot steps, which where extremely heavy. And that's when I bolted, I couldn't stay there any longer. I brushed past every trees and bush, full aware of the Cyclops calling me. Soon, i heard Mrs. O'Leary behind me, and surely that Cyclops was riding her. Nico would be furious to find out someone was riding his (well not his exactly) hellhound. I felt weird as I ran through the woods, like the trees were making way for me. I didn't even worry about not finding the ship, I knew where it was somehow, and I knew where I was going. The sweating returned, and putting back on my jacket seemed like a bad idea all over again. My boots where starting to become uncomfortable, as I almost tripped over them twice. Thankfully, I was back at the ship quickly. I yelled as loud as could, being out of breath that was really hard. I grabbed the rope I had left dangling, but the second I pulled on it, all of the rope came off the ship and fell on the ground. I had no way back onto the boat. I was stuck on the ground with a Cyclops and a hellhound. I turned around, my back to the ship. I pulled of my bracelet and shook it. With my sword now in my hand, I didn't feel to worried, as long as this Cyclops wasn't as strong as Nico I would be basically okay. Mrs. O'Leary jumped out of the pine trees with the Cyclops on her back, and I ready my sword. "Stop!" I looked up and saw Nico propelling down from the boat. It looked hysterical, and I could tell this was his first time doing something like that. As soon as he made it to the ground, he looked at Mrs. O'Leary and the Cyclops. "Tyson?" Tyson started smiling and jumped off Mrs. O'Leary, "Cousin!" Tyson then charged and hugged Nico. "H...hi, Ty...Tyson," It looked like he was being swished by the Cyclops. "Whose Tyson?" I asked once they stopped hugging. "He...he's Percy half brother," Nico said while still trying to regain oxygen. At the name, Tyson's eye started to tear up, "Brother..." "I'm sorry," I said as I patted him on his back, which got a smile out of him. "Tyson?" a voice from the boat said. All of us looked up and saw Annabeth leaning out. "Annabeth!" Tyson yelled. "Come on up here, you guys!" "Okay," Tyson tried to climb the boat without a rope. "Tyson!" "Annabeth?" "Use the rope!" "Okay," Tyson grabbed the rope Nico had used at started his way up. "You want to go next?" I asked Nico. "I need to tie Mrs. O'Leary up first," he held up a rope. "Okay," I grabbed the rope hanging from the boat, and started up. Halfway up, I looked down at Nico, he was talking to Mrs. O'Leary, intently. He's so sweet... I finished my climb to the deck. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Category:Ebony Evans: Adventure of a Lifetime Category:Chapter Page